2019 was a quiet year for Joshua Tree content, with co-founders Jack and Josh tackling the challenges of graduate school and new jobs. But their avid listening and nerding out about the world of music didn’t stop for one minute!
Here are some of their favorite albums from last year:
All Mirrors – Angel Olsen (Jagjaguwar)
Self-empowerment and heartbreak are perhaps two of the most tried and true themes in popular music – which makes Angel Olsen’s fourth record all the more impressive in its distinctive approach to these familiar subjects. With its strange blend of swooning synths and strings, Olsen manages to weave a musical texture that sounds futuristic yet classical, vulnerable yet grand, all at the same time. The production of each song never leaves room for a dull moment. Leading track “Lark” starts off in soft murmur-like verses, but gradually builds with wailing choruses and string glissandos and culminates in a frantic, nightmarish rock finale. All Mirrors is a daring, genre-defying musical masterpiece that merits multiple listens to fully appreciate each moment, layer by layer.
Favorite Track: “All Mirrors”
– Jack
Amidst the Chaos – Sara Bareilles (Epic)
It’s been a long six years since Sara Bareilles released new studio music, but fans certainly could not have been disappointed with Amidst the Chaos. Her latest LP is certainly a turbulent album, filled with more feverish production elements (“Eyes On You”) and stronger statements (“Armor” – which references the #MeToo movement) than her previous albums. But it’s also an album with Norah Jones-like moments of quietude in between. Songs like “Miss Simone” and “Saint Honesty” not only serve as great counterbalances to the brassier tracks, but also best highlight the cornerstone of Bareilles’ musicality– her lyrics. There are great lines sprinkled throughout, such as “You sold me a future from the ones you had in the trunk of your car” (“Wicked Love”). While the instrumentation is traditional, the combination of steeliness, disillusionment, agitation, and hope in this album makes it uniquely 2019 in its feel, and one of our favorites this year.
Favorite Track: “Eyes On You”
– Jack
Enderness – A. A. Bondy (Fat Possum)
In 2019, folk-rock troubadour A. A. Bondy returned from an eight-year hiatus with a new haircut, a bizarre on-stage persona and a unique, unsettling new sound. Enderness is sparsely produced with echoing guitars, electronic beats and eerie instrumental tracks. Bondy’s lyrics are dark and impressionistic, introducing sinister characters and establishing dark moods with impressive economy of language. Amid dense abstraction, he offers biting commentary on celebrity culture and its relation to violence, alluding to the Manson family, JonBenét Ramsey, and other famous killers and victims. In interviews, Bondy has shied away from explaining what motivated his dramatic transformation; this unrelentingly bleak and captivating album speaks for itself.
Favorite Track: “Fentanyl Freddy”
– Josh
Father of the Bride – Vampire Weekend (Columbia)
As an 18-track double album, Father of the Bride manages to be Vampire Weekend’s most political record and its most personal. While many songs voice fears about climate change and the threatened survival of democracy, these crises mostly loom in the background of glimpses into human relationships. Frontman Ezra Koenig takes a more straightforward, country-inspired approach to songwriting, particularly in three charming duets with Danielle Haim. But he doesn’t fully abandon the lush art-pop of earlier Vampire Weekend albums; the nostalgic single “Unbearably White” could easily fit on the band’s previous LP, Modern Vampires of The City.
Favorite Track: “Unbearably White”
– Josh
Fine Line – Harry Styles (Columbia)
In a musical climate where trap beats are king and male pop stars seem to be taking fewer risks (I’m looking at you Ed and Adam), Harry Styles’ second studio album, Fine Line, feels like a breath of fresh air. Lead singles “Lights Up” and “Watermelon Sugar” put a modern spin on the music that we love from the 70s. It’s groovy, funky, and fun – everything that 2019 streaming airwaves have by and large neglected. Meanwhile, songs like “Falling” and the final track “Fine Line” add to the emotional resonance of the record.
Throughout the album, there’s a sense of freedom and experimentation in the musical choices made – whether it’s the gospel-choir in “Lights Up” or the honest lyrical admissions in “Cherry”. Even more so than his self-titled first album, Styles is finding his own distinctive sound, solidifying his departure from his boy-band roots and establishing himself as a pop and rock mainstay for years to come.
Favorite Track: “Adore You”
– Jack
Good At Falling – The Japanese House (Dirty Hit)
British singer-songwriter Amber Bain’s gorgeous debut album chronicles her struggles with codependency and loss. Good At Falling maintains the layered harmonies and dreamy instrumentation of the Japanese House’s breakout singles, while Bain’s collaboration with longtime friends in the 1975 imbues the album with a healthy dose of that band’s angst, energy sarcasm. “I’m only a day old, but I know what love is,” Bain sings over blasting synth chords on “Worms.” That track, and the whole album, is a deeply relatable narrative of early adulthood; when you realize how much you still don’t know about yourself and what you want in life.
Favorite Track: “Lilo”
– Josh
Immunity – Clairo (Fader Label)
Released a few weeks before her 21st birthday, Immunity poignantly captures Claire Cotrill’s first experiences with love as a queer young adult. The heartwrenching first track, “Alewife”, looks back further, to eighth grade, when a caring friend stopped Cotrill from ending her own life. “Swear I could’ve done it/If you weren’t there when I hit the floor,” she quietly admits, setting the tone of an album that faces difficult emotions, embraces vulnerability and inspires hope. Co-producer Rostam Batmanglij crafts a perfect sonic backdrop for Clairo’s silky, filtered vocals, balancing fuzziness and distortion with punchy drumming and bright piano chords.
Favorite Track: “Bags”
– Josh
Lover – Taylor Swift (Republic)
At the time the TS7 era kicked off with this album’s lead single, “ME!”, to say I had serious concerns about the direction of this album would be a severe understatement. But like many of Swift’s previous albums, “ME!” turned out to be a complete red herring. Instead, Swift’s seventh studio effort brings together what Swifties love most about her music – her songwriting craftsmanship, her killer hooks, and her willingness to enter uncharted musical territory (not to mention a long-awaited return to country music!). Her writing continues to be sharp as ever with tracks like “Cruel Summer” and “Soon You’ll Get Better”, and her exploration into punk (“Paper Rings”) and R&B (“False God”) work surprisingly well. The album is certainly not perfect – for one thing, removing the last 5 tracks could have made for a tighter, more cohesive album – but nonetheless ranks favorably among Swift’s discography. While many of her former and current pop contemporaries find themselves running out of things to say by album #7, Lover demonstrates Swift’s full mastery of her art and may be just an indicator of even greater things to come.
Favorite Track: “Cruel Summer”
– Jack
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish (Darkroom/Interscope)
Every few years, a new artist who sounds nothing like what we’ve heard before emerges and fills a musical void we never knew existed. In 2019, that artist was Billie Eilish. Together with her producer and brother, Finneas, Billie’s witchy-whispery voice, ghostly harmonies, and ever-shifting production in When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has resulted in a new brand of music captivating a whole new generation of listeners around the world. Despite the minimal volume output of her voice, there is a surprising degree of emotional range. From the fierce, Beyonce-like thumper, “You Should See Me In A Crown”, to the dreamy and moody “I Love You”, she is able to manipulate her lead and background vocals in continually new and interesting ways. At only 18 years of age, Eilish ended her breakthrough 2019 with the year’s best-selling album in the U.S. She began 2020 with a sweep of the major Grammy awards.
Favorite Track: “You Should See Me In A Crown”
– Jack
WE ALSO LOVED:
Norman Fucking Rockwell – Lana Del Rey
Heard it in a Past Life – Maggie Rogers
Ventura – Anderson .Paak
MAGDALENE – FKA Twigs
Jaime – Brittany Howard
Dedicated – Carly Rae Jepsen
U.F.O.F. and Two Hands – Big Thief
Kiwanuka – Michael Kiwanuka
This Land – Gary Clark Jr.
Red Hearse – Red Hearse
The Big Freeze – Laura Stevenson
thank u, next – Ariana Grande
Assume Form – James Blake
Joshua Tree Music 